Ancient Christian Opposition To Abortion And Infanticide

You must not waver with regard to your decisions. “You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.” You shall love your neighbor more than your own life. You shall not abort a child nor, again, commit infanticide. You must not withhold your hand from your son or your daughter, but from their youth you shall teach them the fear of God.

The Epistle of Barnabas | The Epistle of Barnabas 19.5 in  Michael William Holmes, ed., The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, Updated ed. (Baker Books, 1999), 321.


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One comment

  1. Thanks for sharing, Dr. Clark! I have never heard of this epistle till today. Out of curiosity, I briefly looked at the epistle.

    As a side note, I found it interesting that the epistle also seems to say that the world was created in six thousand years and will likewise end in six thousand years: “This means that in six thousand years the Lord will finish all things” and “Therefore, my children, in six days, that is, in the six thousand years, all things will be finished”.

    The quotations are from page 48 of this version:

    https://ia800802.us.archive.org/12/items/epistlebarnabas00bookgoog/epistlebarnabas00bookgoog.pdf

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